Dominion Jewel of the Empire | EE Dominion of Zakuul

[Darth Strosius]

LOCATION: Marshland, Zakuul
EQUIPMENT: Lightsaber, Oxygen Tank, Rebreather
TAGS: Alina Tremiru
------------------------------------

The cold, dark water did not make Alisteri's nerves any better. He hadn't gone swimming in a decent while, and the fact that he couldn't see all that much in this strange hole only served to keep the acolyte on edge. Thankfully his cybernetic eye could see a bit better than his organic one, but it only helped him see things a bit clearer.

At first he chalked the cold up to the fact that this place had some sort of connection to the Dark Side, but then he spotted the same movement out of the corner of his eye and his hand flew to the sabre clipped onto his hip.

His eye widened as he saw the eye of the creature before them, looking back towards his own weapon as he frantically pulled it from his side and ignited it. Unfortunately he managed to get his lightsaber at the ready just as the black ink over took his vision and a tentacle seized his free arm. A pained hiss escaped him as his captured arm suddenly erupted in pain, the surprise of it all allowing the beast to yank him into the grasp of another that wrapped around his legs.

He couldn't see Alina and he could barely see his own limbs in all of the ink.

A scream of rage and pain left his mouth, muffled by the rebreather and the water as he gripped the tentacle holding his arm and tugged at it. He swung his weapon forward as he did so, attempting to pull the creature closer and get some sort of damage on it.

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Location: Palace, Zakuul.
Objective: 1
Tags: Ingrid L'lerim Loreena Arenais-Valhoun Curtis Learchin LE-03 (Leigh)

Red glanced at Loreena's bodyguard, Curtis. Loreena replied to his accusations, but Red didn't care about that. He was focused on Curtis. The man was itching for a fight, Red could see that clearly. And the negotiations had become very tense. Everybody in the room was tense, and throwing accusations at each other. It was only a matter of time before the conflict became physical, and he would need to take down and incapacitate the man, who was currently the best fighter out of the Rebels in the room, and was the most dangerous. If the man decided to fight, the delegation from Zakuul would be in danger.

Then, Ingrid spoke up, talking about all the bad deeds that the Rebels had done, and everything that the Empire was trying to rebuild and bring peace, and all the death the Rebels were causing, and the delegation even told the Rebels that the Empire and the L'lerim's had contributed to Zakuul positively. Curtis spoke too, talking about how Zakuul was a proud society, and asked if they wanted to throw everything away to join the Empire, and even got some agreement from the delegation.

Then, from Loreena's commlink, a voice, saying something about bloodlines or something, Red didn't really pay attention to it, as he was still busy making a threat-level on the room. But Red did hear about the voice saying that the Empire burnt Bakura down, and that they murdered every member of it's leadership.

The situation had escalated even further. If they wanted to make progress, they needed to do something, now, something drastic.

"Like you all said, the Empire burned those places down. As the delegate said, the HPI Corporation and Empress L'lerim have been funding public works projects here. The Empress didn't commit these atrocities, the Empire did. But the Empress is spreading her ideals throughout the Empire, teaching those under her command to follow the same ideals and morales that she does." He told them.

"You are so insistent, Loreena, that the Empire are the bad guys," He said, turning to Loreena.

"Fine, you want a bad guy? You get a bad guy." Red growled. Then, suddenly, Red stood up, blaster pistol in hand, pointing it at the delegate from Zakuul. The man's eyes went wide as he looked down the pistol. Then, Red slowly raised his right hand.

In it, he held a thermal detonator, with his thumb, he flicked it on, a whirring filled the room as the grenade powered up. Red hadn't hit the timer for the explosion, but all it would take is one simple stroke of his hand, and everyone in the room would be vaporized. The tension in the room suddenly went through the roof, as Red had decided to go for "aggressive negotiations".

"I apologize for the brash behavior, Empress, but we weren't getting anywhere with that," He apologized to the Empress. "We weren't getting anywhere with that. If we kept on throwing accusations like that at each other, we would be here all day." Then, he turned to Loreena. "Is this what you wanted? You wanted to make a villain out of us, so we're just giving you what you want. If it wasn't for you and your Rebels," He said. "Then it never would have come to this, and the negotiations would have gone on in peace." Red told her. For a Jedi, Red was surprisingly full of vile and menace. But Red wasn't like th other Jedi, not one bit.

"Are we ready to negotiate now? Or are you nerfherders going to keep on throwing accusations at each other?" He asked. They hadn't even negotiated yet, they had only thrown accusations at each other left and right, and Red was starting to get annoyed by it.

Pitt deployed from his latch on the back of Red's armor. He sprung up to full height, and landed on the floor. He looked past Red and saw Loreena.

"Oh... hey, Loreena." Pitt said to her. He sounded... sad, like he wasn't happy about fighting against her. Pitt had liked Loreena, and now they were on opposite sides... Pitt didn't like that, especially having to go against Loreena, someone he liked.

"Time to negotiate. We will have two people keep track of the negotiations, Pitt, and your Voice of Abbaji will both keep logs of the conversation, so that both sides will have their transcript of events, and if one is even slightly off from the other, then both sides' transcripts will be considered frauds, agreed?" He asked. Despite his aggressive maneuvers, he was trying to negotiate this peacefully.

Then, Red holstered his blaster pistol, but he let the detonator stay on, and set it down in front of him on the table, his hand still on it, and Red sat down in his seat. "That's better. So, Rebels. how do you want the government of Zakuul under the Empire to operate? How do you want to be represented? Or would you like your own zone of the planet, under control of the Rebels?" He asked.

Let the negotiating begin.

 

[Subject 73 Red]

(Accidental double-post, ignore this)

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Location: Marshland, Zakuul
Equipment: Lightsaber, Oxygen Tank, Rebreather
Tags: Darth Strosius

What was this thing? Some kind of guardian? There was always some kind of guardian to keep wayward souls from coming in. She gritted her teeth as another of these tentacles wrapped around her arm. She gasped out in pain, dropping the saber from her grasp. Thankfully, it shut off. But in this ink she had no way of knowing where it was. She couldn't sense through this. She needed her eyes to see. Another failure of her even having a connection to the Force.

Wait.

The holocron was about disrupting the Force, right? Maybe this was a test for it. To see if the one seeking the knowledge could do what needed to be done. Wouldn't hurt to try, at least. The pain as her flesh sizzled under the tentacle proved to be a good focusing point. She took a breath, then reached out. Not to summon the Force to her aid as many other Sith did. But to disrupt it. Break it. Her unstable connection spread like the ink. The cold faded. The ink faded.

The creature faded.

The farther out she reached, the more she simply erased the creature from existence. A smoke demon, of sorts. A perfect enemy for this kind of trick. Sure enough once the creature was destroyed they'd be able to see again. And see down below. Some twenty or more feet a red light pulsed. The Brightest Light, by how the hole was illuminated. The smooth walls were carved with all manner of Sith Runes.

Alina let out an exhausted breath as she stopped focusing. She felt exhausted. And yet, she also felt good. For once she'd been able to do something helpful. The Empire protects. She grinned up to Alisteri before starting to swim down to collect the holocron and her saber.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Equipment: Taozin Amulet, Lightsaber
Objective: Survive
Tags: Eskk Jannik

Good, he was following. And getting in the way. A light grumble escaped the Jedi as he had to start dodging debris being thrown into the street. If he wasn't as fit as he was, this might of truly hindered him. It was good he started to work out after leaving the Sith. Though this was already starting to wear on him. Occasionally as he hopped over crates he'd turn, sending the box flying for Eskk in his own push of the Force.

Return the favor, so to speak.

But, there it was. A clearing with no one around. A back alley court for huttball. Kahlil finally stopped his run there, taking a couple heavy breaths to calm himself. Then turned back to the Darksider. "There. Now you can let loose without harming anyone else." He flashed a smile as he readied his blade. "What say we finish this now?"

 

[Eskk Jannik]

Equipment: purple lightsaber, corrupted lightsaber stolen from Loreena Arenais. DL44 Blaster Pistol, DC-15x sniper rifle

Objective: feed on the Jedi.

Tags: Kahlil Noble

The jedi sent some of the objects Eskk placed in his path back towards him. Eskk had planned for this. It wasnt really a brilliant or unforseeable strategy. Since Eskk had purposefully maintained some distance from the Jedi, all that was required to dodge the debris he sent was a slight alteration in Eskk's running direction.


He didnt even have to do that. Eskk simply ducked or barrel rolled under them. Thanks to his Anzati training, the master assassin knew how to come up from a roll maintaining the same speed he had been running at before rolling.


The chase came to an end, sooner than Eskk had liked. To be fair, the Jedi had turned into a huttball court and had no where else to go. Eskk slowed to a walk stopping just inside the huttball court. He called an abandoned huttball to his hand as the Jedi turned and spoke.

"Oh you needn't worry about me hurting others anymore," Eskk responded to the first statement. "In fact the only person you should be worried about is yourself"

"Actually I have a proposal," Eskk said in a mocking tone of voice, "knowing how you Jedi abhor violence, I hereby challenge you to a game of huttball. If I win, I get to eat your brains and you have to let me. If you win, I'll never eat anyone's brains again."

Eskk waited a moment as if it had been a serious offer. Then he touched the tip of his lightsaber to the ball in his hand. It quickly deflated. "Oh," Eskk said feigning surprise. "It seems the ball has gone flat. Guess we'll have to fight after all."

 

[Darth Strosius]

LOCATION: Marshland, Zakuul
EQUIPMENT: Lightsaber, Oxygen Tank, Rebreather
TAGS: Alina Tremiru
------------------------------------

Alisteri's plan of trying to attack the creature didn't get very far. His grip on the tentacle never seemed to stay and with his sight limited by the ink he was mostly just stabbing blindly into the water. As another tentacle shot forward to try and wrap around his other arm, the creature's grip on him suddenly loosened before seeming to vanish entirely.

Where had it gone?

Suddenly he looked around, doing his best to calm his panicked breathing as he noticed that it was not only warmer but that the ink and the creature had seemingly disappeared as quickly as they had came. His gaze fixed on Alina once he had regained some semblance of his composure, steadying his breathing as he reluctantly turned his weapon off. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow in confusion as he watched her swim down, his eye widening as he spotted the holocron below.

Huh. Well this was...new.

He briefly glanced over the runes and the walls, swimming a bit closer to them to get a better look. Of course, there was no way for him to tell what they meant, but his attention was captured by them for the moment nonetheless. If nothing else, they proved far more interesting to look at than just staring out into the water.

Still, his mind was racing from the experience with that mysterious creature.

The masked acolyte made a mental note to thoroughly question his friend back on the surface, as well as potentially see about investing in some form of proper armor in the future. Just in case.

 

[LE-03 (Leigh)]

Objective: Provide Clarity
Location: N/A
Equipment: N/A
Tags: Ingrid L'lerim | Loreena Arenais-Valhoun | Curtis Learchin | Subject 73 Red | Open

The delegates from Zakuul had shrunk away from the Imperial contingent at the sight of the detonator, clearly terrified at the obvious threat. The voice from the comlink, however, was unperturbed.. ::Madame Empress, please learn to control your people,:: it said, curtly :: Diplomatic meetings are not well-served by fascists threatening to blow up everyone in the room.::

It paused for a moment, to let the implications sink in for everyone, before returning to business at hand. ::Miss Arenais,:: it said, brightness returning its cadence, ::I hope you are amenable to me answering this particular question? You see, I only return to the point of Bakura because it is a point of comparison I believe the delegation would find relevant to the discussion at hand.::

Once again, the voice on the comm directed itself to the delegation, speaking in a calm and measured tone. ::I understand, esteemed delegates, that your world is a proud and a valuable one, as was Bakura. My colleagues can attest to that personally. However, their beauty and their pride did not protect them from Imperial threats, and neither did being their leadership being open to terms of surrender. As I stated before, video evidence of their current state is available upon request. And while this...gentleman...claims that the Empire's current leadership is not to blame in that case, the fact remains that the Madame Empress was high in the Imperial hierarchy even then, and thus retains some measure of responsibility And, as you can see, the current administration is not above threats to get their way.

The Eclipse Rebellion does not wish for control of Zakuul. We merely wish to see them retain their full and complete sovereignty, free of Imperial dominance, and not be punished for it the way Bakura was. If this wish earns us a measure of friendship, that is simply an extra benefit for the both of us.

Anything to add, Miss Arenais? Have I left anything out?::

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Objective: 1

Lori took in a deep breath and held it until her heartbeat was heard within her ears. This was not quite the visit to Zakuul that she had planned. But the same can be said to Curtis Learchin , LE-03 (Leigh) , Ingrid L'lerim and Subject 73 Red . All of them were gathered here under false pretences. That in and of itself was something to be investigated further down the road.

She listened to Ingrid, taking note ofher affinity towards children. "You care about the children of Zakuul, it seems...but what about the others that were murdered in their homes, blown up by your vast military capabilities, or disintegrated as they ran, trying to escape your troopers, mercs and ultranaughts? What deems them to be less worthy? Tacitus didn't care. For him freedom meant Chaos. Those that didn't abide by his strict rules and order were punished by prison and death. If the new Eternal Empire is one that cares about the sanctity of life, than it has a long way to go with proving it." She glanced over to Red briefly as his hand held the detonator. "And solidifying ties with the Sith Empire through marriage, an Empire that cares even less about about anyone but their own evil conquest and subjectification of the Galaxy, is a very poor way of showing that you care. Invading other worlds solely because they are the enemy of your precious Sith Empire is also a poor way of showing it. The Mandalorians were recently just in bed as much with the Sith Empire as you are, and look at what happened with them..."

Lori looked to the Zakuul delegation. "The Voice of Abbaji is right. The Eclipse Rebellion is not an oppressive military force. What you and all of Zakuul wishes for yourselves is all that matters. But remember, they have the means to replace you with copies and very convincing ones as that...." She shifted a little in her chair, still not at all comfortable with the current propoganda that the Eternal Empire had produced. Her eyes fell on Pitt, a little droid that she had at one time, enjoyed the company of. The same goes for Red. But now...they had turned against her. "And should you defy them like I do, then you too could be blamed for the death of the Emperor and have lies spewed forth and spread all over the holonet, and have your friends turn against you.

The choice of course is yours. And both have risks. It's just that you need to ask yourselves which risk is greater for you and your people."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Location: Marshland, Zakuul
Equipment: Lightsaber, Oxygen Tank, Rebreather
Tags: Darth Strosius

Alina swam pretty quickly back up once she stashed the holocron in a pouch. She'd gotten what she came for. As she got eye level with Alisteri she nodded upwards. They were done in the water. She swam back to the surface as fast as she could. Last thing she wanted was to stick around incase that thing came back. Or something worse. As soon as she broke the surface she pretty quickly took out the rebreather to take a huge breath of air. Fresh air never tasted so good. Though, probably would be better if it wasn't a swamp.

She clambered back up onto the floor they'd been on before. This felt.. Great. Amazing even. For the first time in.. Ever, she'd actually done something and succeeded. The holocron would be good to bring to Taeli Raaf . Maybe earn a bit of favor. Show that she can be useful. She turned back to the water, waiting for the other acolyte to surface. Soon as he did she extended a hand, smiling warmly. "Thanks, for coming with me."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Equipment: Taozin Amulet, Lightsaber
Objective: Survive
Tags: Eskk Jannik

"I am always a little worried about myself." It was a bit easier to put on a smile now that no one was in danger. A friendly grin and joyful conversation might actually be the sort of thing to tip the battle in his favor. Maybe. Eskk seemed the type to get infuriated easily. That might be pretty useful. If it was true at least. He raised a brow curiously as the man brought up a huttball and made.. Quite the interesting offer.

"I'm afraid I'm pretty attached to my brain. I'll have to pass." Oh. Yeah, figured it wasn't a real offer. Kahlil's blade burst into light as he held the blade aloft, offering a shrug. "Don't hold it against me if you end up loosing. I did try to warn you." He, of course, wouldn't make the first strike. But he'd already begun to study the area they were in. Finding the different areas he could use to his advantage. This was a battle now.

 

[Eskk Jannik]

Objective: feed on the Jedi

Tags: Kahlil Noble

Eskk looked on the glowing blade with disinterest. He had seen that before. Judging by his timing Eskk assumed he had ment to use it as a show of force. Eskk was unimpressed. Maybe the Jedi was out of tricks already.

Eskk reached up and pulled his Durasteel facemask away from his face. Then he dropped it onto the dirt. His hood wasn't up, so the Jedi would clearly be able to see his face.

His face was pale and white like the rest of his skin. His eyes gleamed blue like two angry sapphires. They had a few flecks of yellow in them due to his frequent use of the darkside. His nose was an immediately noticeable feature. It looked smashed down and bigger than it should be by a size or two. His head was bald. Eskk could grow hair, but he found it to be a liability in combat which served no practical purpose. So, he kept it shaved off.

Eskk began to circle his enemy with his body turned sideways. He led with his right hand, holding the purple lightsaber and his left hand was up in the air behind his head. He held his lightsaber pointed outward towards the Jedi.

Eskk stepped in making a jabbing motion aimed at his opponents midsection. It was a feigned attack and as soon as the Jedi moved to counter it, Eskk would jump back. Eskk was analyzing his movements and prodding his defenses. Searching for a weakness.

 

[Darth Strosius]

LOCATION: Marshland, Zakuul
EQUIPMENT: Lightsaber, Oxygen Tank, Rebreather
TAGS: Alina Tremiru
------------------------------------

The masked man glanced over at his fellow acolyte, his gaze narrowing on the holocron for a moment. To the untrained eye it would seem so trivial to go through this much trouble for that little trinket, but Alisteri did not have an untrained eye. He hadn't used one himself, he preferred proper tomes and whatnot, but he had heard plenty of things about them.

After mentally noting one or two of the runes for later study he made his way back up to the surface.

This time, he was very careful to keep a watchful eye on all of his surroundings. Even as he surfaced and breathed a sigh of relief, he still glanced around for movement. This swamp made him far too twitchy for his own liking. He glanced at her extended hand and found himself returning a small smile as he took it. "Anytime my friend."

"Now do tell me, how did you get rid of that thing down there?"

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Equipment: Taozin Amulet, Lightsaber
Objective: Survive
Tags: Eskk Jannik

"I'm honored. I'm guessing not many see your face." He chuckled a bit more, trying to keep it friendly. If it was an intimidation trick, he'd have to do far more to scare the son of the Once-Emperor of the Sith. Kahlil kept his eyes focused on the darksider's movements, not daring to let his guard drop for a moment. The strike came, and the strike went. A small, subtle movement kept him away from danger, as it always did. Efficient movements. The core of Soresu.

"I didn't think you'd be one to play with your food, though, maybe I should've expected it." Another light chuckle. Then raised his hand. The Force swelled all at once as he brought focus to the area around him. It'd be like gravity suddenly increased. An invisible pressure weighing everything down. The chainlink fence, the hoops, they all began to collapse on themselves. A trick he used to peacefully immobilize enemies.

 

[Eskk Jannik]

Objective: feed on the Jedi

Tags: Kahlil Noble

Eskk ignored the comment about his face. He only showed it to his victims before he drained them. The Jedi would learn that soon enough without being told.

He allowed a slight smirk to form on his lips at the mention of playing with his food, but that would be all the response the Jedi got from him.

The smirk faded away as he began to feel the pressure increase and his body be weighed down. He couldnt allow this power to continue to be used. Eskk reached out with his mind, using his racial force ability.

The mind trick utilized neither darkside energy or lightside energy. It was a force neutral power. It worked by rapidly increasing the levels of Serotonin in the brain while rapidly decreasing the levels of dopamine. In addition the mind of the affected would be hypnotically inclined to give in to Eskk. The effects of this ability include headache, muscle spasms, muscle rigidity, inability to focus, and fatigue, as well as hallucinations.

Eskk wanted to further remove the inability to concentrate from the Jedi, so he came in again with a side swipe aimed at his midsection. This time Eskk wouldnt step back.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Location: Marshland, Zakuul
Equipment: Lightsaber, Oxygen Tank, Rebreather
Tags: Darth Strosius

Friend. That settled in her ears way more than it should. It brought a smile to her face before she helped pull her fellow acolyte from the water. Well, the hole at least. Now, though, was the long walk back to the ship. Shouldn't be too to long, but plenty of time to dive into the subject. And boy was she excited for the chance to talk about. The grin was wide as can be as she started to speak.

"On Korriban, during the war, I realized that why I can't use the Force like the rest is because my connection is.. Weird. Disruptive. I can break connections to the Force in a way. The beast was made with the Force, and by severing it it just.. Faded."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Equipment: Taozin Amulet, Lightsaber
Objective: Survive
Tags: Eskk Jannik

Unfortunately, as Eskk would learn very quickly, Kahlil wasn't human. If his height hadn't given that away earlier, the fact that this ability the Anzati tried to use had absolutely no effect would confirm it. He was Epicanthix. His mind was closed off to all in the Force as a passive ability granted by his heritage. He wasn't even aware the darksider was trying to manipulate his mind, instead just focused on increasing the pressure until Eskk would end up flat on the ground.

The pressure grew quickly, even more the closer Eskk got to him. His blade, glowing, would crack off the purple saber and erupt with that same flash of light as earlier. Buying time as he continued to increase the gravity around him.

 

[Eskk Jannik]

Objective: feed on the Jedi

Tags: Kahlil Noble

Eskk could feel the pressure continue to increase as he got closer to the Jedi. Apparently his mind ability was having no affect on the man. Perhaps the Jedi still had tricks.

Eskk instead focused his force energy into enhancing his speed and strength, allowing him to withstand the increasing pressure for longer.

Eskk was temporarily blinded, but he couldnt wait for his vision to return before striking. He didnt have that kind of time. He would have to rely on his sense of hearing and his martial knowledge to make strikes and defend himself.

He would have to force the Jedi to focus on combat rather than his force power. Eskk drew his 2nd lightsaber and activated it, while keeping the blue saber locked in with his purple saber.

The blade of the second saber was a metallic grey with a red outline. Eskk began to twist and turn his body. His first stike was a low swipe with the second saber aimed to cut off the Jedi's legs.

As he completed the swipe Eskk twisted in the opposite direction. He jumped up and delivered a force enhanced kick aimed at the man's chest.

 

[Darth Strosius]

LOCATION: Marshland, Zakuul
EQUIPMENT: Lightsaber, Oxygen Tank, Rebreather
TAGS: Alina Tremiru
------------------------------------

The masked man was glad to be back on land, even if said land was hardly that much drier than the water. He idly raised an eyebrow as he walked alongside Alina, her cheery expression confusing him for a moment. Maybe she was just glad to have the holocron? Probably. "Ah I see, I remember fighting on Korriban. So you can just...disrupt someone trying to use the Force?"

That idea both fascinated and scared him a bit. On the one hand, he himself was not exactly the most in tune with the ways of the Force, but he had grown used to its presence. It comforted him sometimes, to have it be always there and reliable. On the other, such an ability could prove an invaluable asset. Or a difficult obstacle. "Well I'm glad that we're on the same side then."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Equipment: Taozin Amulet, Lightsaber
Objective: Survive
Tags: Eskk Jannik

A second saber? Kahlil's eyes narrowed at the sight, but he wasn't going to let this distract him. Or at least, he wouldn't let it change what he was doing. As the second saber came out he kept the pressure on the first, then shifted his focus. Instead of spreading the energy around and trying to keep Eskk from moving with the increased gravity, he put it on one point. The saber itself. What was once a lightweight weapon would feel like truck full of duracrete. His body though, the pressure would be completely gone.

The kick hit Kahlil straight in the chest, sending him stumbling back. Or, just back how he wanted. He kept his footing before hopping backwards on top of the bent and broken Huttball hoop before shutting off his saber. This time he focused on the Anzati himself, then unleashed a crushing pressure to try and render the braineater immobile.